I met Bola Bolagun when we were working on the Genevieve Pink Ball back in 2014. She was a member of the committee and we grew close very naturally. She is a principled, pioneering and caring woman. Mrs B, as I fondly call her is a no nonsense person but she’s also quite raggedy and normal when you meet her. She is witty, but keeps it real, there are absolutely no airs – what you see is what you get. We are similar in this aspect and so I greatly appreciate her for this.
Despite her busy schedule she always finds time for people that are in need of it and is a great person to strategize with on everything; whether personal, emotional or career wise. There was never a point where I said, “YES! This is my role model”. She just took interest in me. It wasn’t a decision but happened gradually.
When we would always check in on each other from time to time. Gradually it became more frequent and then some years down the line I realised that she was mentoring me! One of the things she says she appreciates about our friendship is that it’s a two way stream, we both give positively to the relationship.
She opened my eyes to the importance of emotional intelligence and how important it is to not act on rash emotions. This has really helped me use emotional intelligence a lot more. I remember the first event we collaborated on together. She will probably never know how much it meant to me and how happy she made me. I worked at Genevieve at the time and she helped bring on Hairfinity as a sponsor for our summer party. This was such a big deal for me at the time, she let me shine and take the credit for the partnership. She helped build my confidence with this encounter and it will always makes me smile looking back.
She is a pioneer of fashion, lifestyle and beauty consultancy in Nigeria, and also has a passion for content having created several Television shows. I will always root for her.
